As set forth in the Lund et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,241,133, issued Dec. 23, 1980 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, it has been found to be desirable in the construction of compressed or composite wood particle products to employ wood flakes which are very thin and which have a length at least several times their width and to align the wood flakes in mutually parallel alignment and in alignment with the longitudinal axis of the product being produced. This produces a product having substantially improved strength characteristics in the direction of alignment of the wood flakes. The production of such compressed wood products requires the formation of a loosely felted mat of wood particles. The mat is then compressed to form the densified product. One problem encountered in forming the loosely felted mat is that the alignment or orientation of the elongated wood flakes is made difficult because the wood flakes, which are very light and comparatively fragile, have to be handled en masse, and this has resulted in the clogging of the known machines that were tried for this purpose. Another problem in connection with handling and orienting the wood flakes has been that the flakes tend to become randomly oriented as they fall onto the mat and must be held in alignment as they are deposited.
Examples of prior art attempts to design suitable apparatus for forming mats of aligned wood strands are set forth in the Urmanov U.S. Pat. No. 3,963,400, issued June 15, 1976; the Turner U.S. Pat. No. 3,721,329, issued Mar. 20, 1973; the Elmendorf U.S. Pat. No. 3,202,743, issued Aug. 24, 1965; the Elmendorf U.S. Pat. No. 3,478,861, issued Nov. 18, 1969; and Canadian Patent No. 597,941, issued May 10, 1960.
Attention is also directed to the Axer et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,824,058; the Paerels et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,372,217; the Carlsson et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,692,612; and the Saidel U.S. Pat. No. 3,867,887. Attention is also directed to the Hostettler U.S. Pat. No. 3,278,764; and the Hostettler U.S. Pat. No. 3,070,838.